Chinese tourists shop at a duty-free store shop in Chejudo, South Korea, Feb 8, 2016. [Photo/IC]

2. Tourism warms up with about 8 million overseas trips

The ministry data showed about 80 percent of trips made during the period was for family reunion, 10 percent for tourism, and 17.7 percent on overseas trips.

Overseas travel became more popular, with outbound group travel tourists hitting 8.56 million, up 3 percent from the same period last year, according to statistical data from domestic airlines.

If the estimated average travel related expenditure is 15,000 yuan ($2,302.5) per person, the tourists are expected to spend 128.4 billion yuan in total, according to a report by China Tourism Academy and popular tourism portal Ctrip.com.

Japan, Thailand, China's Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, China's Hong Kong and Philippines are the top 10 outbound tourism destinations, according to the National Tourism Administration. Top 10 tourists are from the following regions: Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi and Chongqing.

According to a report by travel information website tuniu.com, nearly 60 percent of all tourists stayed at luxury hotels. Sixty-five percent of total visitors on domestic trips and 35 percent of outbound visitors enjoyed luxury hotels.

Sixty-five percent of tourists chose daytime flights instead of red-eye flights, meaning they value comfort more, according to tuniu.com.

Data from Ctrip.com showed that the number of tourists who took luxury cruises for travel tripled from last year. Some Chinese tourists even set their feet on the Antarctica with the highest order costing more than 300,000 yuan, becoming the most expensive tourist who travelled to the farthest.